1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to control when recording image data on a storage medium that can be attached to and detached from an image processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional common image capturing apparatuses such as digital cameras are equipped with a so-called input/output device that writes data to an external storage medium in order to record a captured image or reads data from an external storage medium to reproduce a recorded image. Recently, image capturing apparatuses that are equipped with a plurality of input/output devices in order to connect a plurality of storage media are also being introduced commercially.
Such image capturing apparatuses include apparatuses in which a setting can be made so as to compress captured image data by a plurality of compression methods to generate image data files, and output the image data file/files that has/have been compressed by any one of or all of the compression methods. Examples of an image data file that is generated include JPEG image data that can be handled by many common applications, and so-called RAW image data that is not processed on the image capturing apparatus in order to output an image that has been output from an image sensor without degrading the image. In particular, with respect to a RAW image, by recording the RAW image and performing reproduction (development) processing of the image using an external apparatus such as a personal computer, it is possible to obtain high quality prints or realize more advanced image editing that matches the objective of the user. In some cases, a RAW image is compressed by a lossless compression method to reduce the amount of generated data. In order to distinguish this kind of RAW image file from a JPEG image file, generally an extension other than “.jpg” is used for the RAW image file.
Further, according to Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-159293 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-179857, image capturing apparatuses are disclosed in which, in particular, image data compressed using different compression methods is generated in a single imaging operation, and which can record the image data on a storage medium. With respect to this kind of image capturing apparatus, an image capturing apparatus that allows a user to arbitrarily set the kind of image data file to be recorded on a storage medium is also being introduced commercially (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-159293 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-179857).
An external storage medium that is attached to an image capturing apparatus and is equipped with a communication function and which also has a function that, upon completion of writing of an image data file thereto by the image capturing apparatus, automatically transfers the image data file to a specified communication destination is in practical use. A feature of this kind of storage medium with a communication function is that since communication is performed by control of the storage medium itself, it is not necessary for the image capturing apparatus to perform control related to communication.
However, some external storage media with a communication function have a restriction whereby only specific kinds of data files can be transferred. This restriction is provided because it is considered that it would be a demerit from the viewpoint of the user if all the kinds of data that are written to the storage medium are transferred. One known method of determining the kind of data file is, for example, to determine the extension of the relevant data file.
According to the image capturing apparatuses described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-159293 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-179857, it is possible to record image data that has been compressed by a plurality of compression methods, as described above. When different methods are used to compress image data, generally a different extension is added to the image data file for the respective compression methods. Consequently, even when a user desires to transfer image data, a transfer is not performed unless image data with an extension that can be transferred is recorded in the external storage medium that has a communication function.
More specifically, there is the problem that the load of the user increases because it is necessary for the user to set what kind of image data to record in the storage medium while taking into consideration a combination of factors including whether or not the storage medium has a communication function as well as the kind of extensions of data that can be transferred using the communication function.